Chatpate Egg Pakode

The rains are back! Cloudy, chilly mornings which cascade to cloudy, chilly evenings, the sky laden with dark clouds that threaten to pour down on you, and then the pitter-patter of the rains finally begin. All you want then is a hot plate of pakoras along with a steaming mug of chai, and sit by the window and watch the rains and the lovely patterns they make as they fall on the ground. Oh how I love doing that. Most therapeutic for the soul.

So along with the showers yesterday, I had a surprise visitor. It was none other than one of my favourite BFFs Siri of ‘Cooking with Siri’. She happens to be in Bangalore for a couple of days, and came visiting. While we were chatting nineteen to the dozen, we realised that we were in the mood for some kitchen antics. The rains helped us quickly decide what we wanted to make. Chai and pakode. The best things to have when it’s pouring cats and dogs outside. Agreed? Siri and I had most fun making the pakode together, and taking pictures of each step as we went along. Thanks to Siri, my mojo is back and the blog which was gathering dust is revived today. So don’t stop at the reading and the drooling. Make some pakode for yourself too. And then, you can come back and tell me how much you’ve missed me and my posts, and give me a virtual hug for coming back for all you guys with an egg-static post! You will do that yes? Yes.

That’s the gorgeous and bubbly girl behind ‘Cooking with Siri’, and my model for today’s post. Isn’t she pretty? :)

Spoiler warning: Since I was shooting pics of food that I’d cooked after a really long time, I went a little overboard with the pictures. Do bear with me. At the most, you will just drool a little more.

Boil the eggs on a medium flame. I like my eggs tending a little towards hard-boiled. You can boil them the way you like to have them.

Once boiled, shell the eggs and allow to cool a bit.

While the eggs are cooling, get the batter ready. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a considerably wide bowl.

Add water little by little to make a thick batter (like idli batter consistency).

Now, get the oil hot for deep-frying your pakode. Pour enough oil in a wok and let it heat up on a medium-high flame. It should take about 3-5 minutes, during which you can finish the remainder of your prep work.

Cut each egg into 4 quarters.

Dunk the egg slices in the readied batter one by one. Don’t put all of them in, you wont have enough place in your bowl to cover the egg slices with batter. About 4-5 at a time should work just fine.

Using 2 spoons, pour the thick batter over each piece of egg to cover it uniformly. You could even work with your hand here.

By now, the oil in the wok should be hot. Reduce flame to medium, and gently dunk in the egg pakode with the spoon, one by one. Don’t crowd the wok with the pakode, else they won’t cook properly. I used a medium-sized kadai to fry the pakode in, and it took 8 pakode per batch

Fry the pakode till they turn evenly golden brown all over. Remove from oil and put them on tissues to drain off any excess oil. Repeat till you finish making all the pakode.

Sprinkle the chat masala on the pakode and toss to coat. At this stage, I like to pretend that I’m a chef in a restaurant, and do the tossing like a chef would. Only difference is, once I’m done tossing, there are more pakode outside my bowl, than inside.

Transfer the tossed pakode onto a serving plate. Or if you want the street-foodish feel, make a potlam with a sheet of newspaper like I did. Sprinkle the chopped onions, coriander and lime juice over them. Make yourself a cup of masala chai and settle into your favourite window seat at home. Just one word. Invigorating.

Now tell me you are having one foot in the kitchen already, and I will believe you. Here, have a pakoda before you go make your’s.

Super duper post. It is like re-living every moment we spent in your kitchen yesterday. Love the write up as well. Thanks for having me and making these absolutely scrumptious egg pakodes. For an “egg”-static person like me, I was in food heaven. Can’t wait to start on posting the 9 Dussehra recipes we planned. It is gonna be awesome festive fun.

These look lovely and oh so yumm
I am going to buy me some eggs and gotta make em today. Its cloudy and rainy this side and this pakodi is perfect for this weather with some adrak chai.
Wish you were my neighbor ;)

its been some time since Ive come on your blogpage…The pakodes look yummy. I dont eat eggs, but who cares, they would taste just as great with anything else!!! Great clicks and looks like you guys had a ball!!!
Wishihg you a wonderful new year 2013…